Carmichael nailed by a lie
Former Scottish Secretary under pressure to resign over leaked memo
FORMER Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael is facing demands to resign as an MP after lying over the leak of a memo intended to smear Nicola Sturgeon during the General Election campaign.
Mr Carmichael had claimed he first became aware of the document, which claimed the First Minister had told the French Ambassador she backed David Cameron to become Prime Minister, after being contacted about it by a journalist on Friday, April 3.
He told Channel 4 News: “I’ve told you, the first I became aware of this, and this is already in the public record, was when I received a call on Friday afternoon from a journalist making me aware of it [the memo].”
But a damning official leak inquiry published yesterday concluded that the former Cabinet minister had agreed to the document being passed to the Conservative-supporting Daily Telegraph by his then special adviser days before.
The report says Mr Carmichael confirmed he had been asked by the adviser, Euan Roddin, “for his view of the possiblity of sharing the memo with the press. Mr Carmichael agreed that this should occur . . . he could and should have stopped the sharing of the memo”.
Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood’s findings led a contrite Mr Carmichael to write to Ms Sturgeon apologising for his “error of judgment”.
She called on him to consider his position and accused him of “dishonesty” because of his earlier strenuous denials of involvement.
Her deputy, Stewart Hosie, said the MP for Orkney and Shetland – the sole candidate among 11 Scottish Liberal Democrats to have survived the SNP surge on Thursday, May 7 – could not continue in politics.
He said: “I don’t see how Alistair Carmichael can carry on as an MP, supposedly an ‘honourable member’. It does a disservice to the people of Orkney and Shetland.
“How can anyone believe a word he says any more, whether inside or outside the chamber? The one honourable thing he can and should do now is stand down from the House of Commons.”
Mr Carmichael was not returning calls last night. The saga began on the night of April 3, Good Friday, when the Telegraph tweeted its front page for the following day with the headline “Sturgeon’s secret backing for Cameron”.
The explosive story came just hours after the SNP leader had performed impressively in the first of the UK leaders’ debates.
Her strong contention had been that she would do all that she could to “lock out” David Cameron from Downing Street and had offered Ed Miliband her support to put the Labour leader into No 10. The revelation, therefore, that while Ms Sturgeon was declaring this in public, she was saying the complete opposite in private, was meant to brand the First Minister a hypocrite and cause her and the SNP political damage.
The Tories also seized on her alleged admission – now proved false – with Mr Cameron telling supporters: “She’s told us something that I said about four years ago, which is: Ed Miliband is not up to the job of being Prime Minister.”
The leak was from a memo written by an unnamed civil servant after a talk between him and Pierre-Alain Coffinier, the French Consul-General, about a meeting in Edinburgh in March between Ms Sturgeon and Sylvie Bermann, the French Ambassador to the UK.
The First Minister was said to have told Mme Bermann that “she’d rather see David Cameron remain as PM” and that she “didn’t see Ed Miliband as PM material”. The SNP leader swiftly put out a denial, denouncing the memo as “100 per cent untrue”. M Coffinier also made clear that “absolutely no preference was expressed” by Ms Sturgeon over who should be Prime Minister.
Mr Carmichael, when pressed about the memo, admitted it had originated from his department but dismissed the leak as “just one of those things”, adding:
“This is the middle of an election campaign; these things happen.”
But a leak inquiry was subsequently initiated by Sir Jeremy.
Yesterday it reported with t he f i nd i ng s t hat t he unnamed civil ser vant believed the memo to be an “accurate record” of the talk between himself and M Coffinier but highlighted how “part of the conversation between the French Ambassador and the First Minister might well have been ‘lost in translation’”.
The inquiry found Mr Roddin had confirmed he gave a copy of the memo to the Telegraph, believing it was in the public interest to do so. Mr Carmichael admit ted he discussed the memo with Mr Roddin and agreed to the leak.
The former Scottish Secretary has apologised to Ms Sturgeon and the French ambassador after the Cabinet Office investigation into the leak found he “could and should have stopped the sharing of the memo”.
In a statement, the LibDem MP said that, while he had not seen the document before it was published, he was aware of its contents and agreed his special adviser should make them public.
“I should not have agreed this; it was an error of judgment, which I regret.
“I accept full responsibility for the publication of the do c u ment ,” said Mr Carmichael.
“Had I still been a Govern ment Minister, I would have considered this to be a matter that required my resignation. I have, therefore, informed the Cabinet Secretary that I will decline my ministerial severance payment.”
This is wor th about £17,000.
Ms Sturgeon insisted Mr Carmichael “should consider his position” and noted: “As well as the original dirty trick he then tried to cover it up and is only admitting it now because he got caught.”
She added: “It is reasonable to say it is at least possible that had voters in his constituency known he had engaged in dirty tricks, they might have voted differently.”
Dave Penman, head of the FDA trade union, which represents senior public servants, said: “Politicians are more than aware that civil s er v a nt s may become collateral damage when they choose to leak documents.
“The consequences for a civil servant leaking information could have been catastrophic but it would appear that different rules apply when it comes to politicians.”